Countdown to Spring Training: Day 34

As Spring Training 2014 creeps closer, the World Series title holder gets ready for another big season. The Boston Red Sox’ 2014 roster appears to be mostly intact but General manager Ben Cherington still expects some fine-tuning.

Cherington said before the Hot Stove Cool Music Roundtable at Fenway Park, that it’s likely that the Red Sox will add players before spring training. It’s unclear whether the Red Sox will do so through free agency or via trade, but Cherington said Boston is working to build depth in various areas for the upcoming season.

“I think it’s likely we’ll add to the roster,” Cherington said. “Whether it be in the form of a major league deal or a minor league deal remains to be seen. But I’m confident that we’ll add some players before spring training. We’re actively working on that now, so there’s still some areas we’d like to beef up a little bit and add some depth to. We’ll see. Hopefully we’re getting closer on a couple things.”

The Red Sox already have added a few players this offseason, including catcher A.J. Pierzynski, utilityman Jonathan Herrera and relievers Edward Mujica and Burke Badenhop. Cherington said Tuesday that January/early February represents a time when Major League Baseball clubs can make valuable additions, though, and the Red Sox GM is open to adding to numerous positions. “We’ve been able to address the bullpen in some ways. Wouldn’t rule out adding one more pitcher, maybe two more pitchers,” Cherington said. “We’ve been able to address some other areas of the team. Wouldn’t rule out adding an outfielder or infielder, but what type of deal and stuff remains to be seen.Like I said, we’re working on it and hopefully getting closer on a couple of things.”

Cherington still isn’t ruling out re-signing Stephen Drew, either, saying that the Red Sox have kept an open dialogue with the shortstop and his agent, Scott Boras. There isn’t much to report on that front, though, as Cherington said that the time being spent talking about Drew publicly isn’t necessarily consistent with the time that the Red Sox have spent negotiating his return.
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